Monday, February 1, 2010ValueClick Sells Web Clients BusinessWestlake Village-based web advertising firm ValueClick said late Monday that it has divested its Web Clients promotional lead generation business. According to the firm, the deal was worth $45M, in the form of a five year note with an interest rate of five percent. Name of the buyer was not disclosed. ValueClick said the move is part of a strategy to grow its core online marketing services and technology. ValueClick acquired its Web Clients business in 2005 for approximately $141M.
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TurboTax Hits TwitterIntuit's TurboTax division, which is based in San Diego, has jumped on the Twitter bandwagon, and will provide tax and technology answers on the micro messaging service, the firm said Monday. According to the firm, it is now answering questions on its own Twitter account, @TeamTurboTax, and will provide free tax and technology advice from the account.
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Steelbergs' Brand Affinity Technologies Buys BeeylaIrvine-based Brand Affinity Technologies, founded by former dMarc founders Ryan and Chad Steelberg, said Monday that it has acquired La Jolla-based Beeyla, a developer of virtual sports collectibles. Financial terms of the buy were not disclosed. Brand Affinity Technologies said the buy will extend its portfolio of endorsement offerings. Ryan and Chad Steelberg sold their last firm, radio adverting technology firm dMarc Broadcasting, to Google in 2006, in a deal which was originally worth over $ (More info...)
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SAIC Buys Virtual Worlds FirmSan Diego-based Science Applications International Corporation said Monday that it has acquired a product line from Forterra Systems, focused on online, secure 3D virtual worlds. Terms of the acquisition were not disclosed. SAIC said it will acquire Forterra Systems' On-Line Interactive Virtual Environment (OLIVE) product line, and hire approximately 12 employees of Forterra. OLIVE is used by companies to create their own, secure 3D worlds, where they can interact with others through life-like h (More info...)
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LegalZoom Eyes Texas ExpansionLos Angeles-based LegalZoom.com, a provider of web-based, legal documents, is eyeing a major expansion in Texas, with the location of 600 new jobs in Austin, according to the City of Austin. According to documents posted by the City of Austin, it is proposing to provide LegalZoom.com with up to $200,000 in economic incentives to open up an office in Austin as a regional headquarters. The city said it has authorized its City Manager to pay the firm around $20,000 a year for the next 10 years to c (More info...)
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Nirvanix Ties With CommVaultSan Diego-based cloud storage firm Nirvanix is further bolstering its focus on enterprise customers, saying today that it has partnered with enterprise storage software provider CommVault. According to the firms, CommVault has connected its Simpana backup and recovery and archiving software to Nirvanix, allowing CommVault's users to use the Nirvanix online storage service for backup and offsite storage. Nirvanix said CommVault customers can select the firm's Storage Delivery Network (SDN) produc (More info...)
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Our Survey: SoCal Tech Execs Optimistic, Looking To HireLocal technology executives seem to be optimistic going into the new year, believing the worst of the economic decline has passed, and are also looking at hiring this year, according to the latest socalTECH.com Industry Survey. The non-scientific survey was a shift from the fairly negative outlook from last year's survey. According to the results--tallied by the David James Agency, which conducted they survey for us--82 percent of respondents to the survey are expecting some level of growth in 2 (More info...)
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Boingo Wireless Expands In UK With Airport DealLos Angeles-based Boingo Wireless, which operates a global network of Wi-Fi hotspots, said today that it has expanded in the U.K. with a deal at six major airports. The firm, which is headed by David Hagan, said it is in an exclusive deal with airport company BAA, to be the sole provider of retail Wi-Fi services at London Heathrow (LHR), London Stansted (STN), Glasgow (GLA), Edinburgh (EDI), Aberdeen (ABZ), and Southampton (SOU). Boingo replaces multiple operators at those airports. Financial de (More info...)
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Equipois Wins Pitch CompetitionLos Angeles-based Equipois, which develops ergonomic arm technology, was the winner of a fast pitch competition hosted by the Monte Jade Science & Technology Association last week at Caltech. Equipois, which is headed by Eric Golden, has developed technology to make lifting and manipulating heavy loads and tooling effortless. The technology is based on the technology behind Hollywood's Steadicam. Equipois recently raised $1.3M in the first tranche of a Series B-1 funding round, led by Penny Blac (More info...)
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ThisNext Buys Stylehive, Gains FundingSanta Monica-based ThisNext announced this morning that it has acquired fashion and beauty site Stylehive, and raised a Series C round of funding. The firm did not disclose amount of the funding, however, a regulatory filing by the firm last week indicated the funding round was worth $1.2M. ThisNext said the Series C funding round came from Clearstone Venture Partners, Anthem Venture Partners, and Lightspeed Venture Partners. As part of the acquisition and funding, ThisNext said it has created (More info...)
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Concerro Buys RES-Q Healthcare SystemsSan Diego-based Concerro, a developer of workforce management software for the hospital and healthcare industry, said today that it has acquired RES-Q Healthcare Systems, which is based in Calabasas. Financial details of the buy were not disclosed. RES-Q provides workforce management software for staff and nurse scheduling. Concerro said the move would contribute to its overall growth. Concerro said that RES-Q's President, Michael Meisel, joins Concerro as VP of Product Management and Marketing (More info...)
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Interview with Stuart MacFarlane, iChangeThis morning, Fullerton-based iChange (www.ichange.com) is announcing that it has raised a round of funding, and has appointed Stuart MacFarlane as its CEO. Stuart is a Managing Director at Momentum Venture Partners, and former CEO of Insider Pages. Momentum is also the source of the new funding. Momentum Ventures is a firm which has been very active providing management expertise in Southern California, helping promising technology firms. We spoke with Stuart about the funding deal and new posi (More info...)
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iChange Gets Funding, Names MacFarlane CEOFullerton-based iChange Networks, which operates online communities focused on major life changes, is announcing today that it has scored an initial round of funding, and named former InsiderPages CEO Stuart MacFarlane as CEO. Among of the funding, which came from Momentum Venture Management, was not announced. MacFarlane is also a principal at Momentum. iChange operates an online community focused on weight loss and nutrition, which is free to users. The firm also offers premium services to con (More info...)
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FLO TV Plans Super Bowl Ad BlitzSan Diego-based FLO TV, the mobile television arm of Qualcomm, announced today that it is launching a Super Bowl ad campaign. The firm said that it will launch three separate advertising spots, which combines a remix of The Who's "My Generation" by Black Eyed Peas' will.I.am, and CBS Sports' personalities Jim Nantz and James Brown. The firm said the campaign will focus on mobile TV and its FLO TV brand. FLO TV did not say what it planned to spend on the advertising blitz. FLO TV operates a mobil (More info...)
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Life Technologies Completes Mass Spectrometry Business SaleCarlsbad-based Life Technologies, a manufacturer of scientific equipment to the life sciences industry, has completed its sale of its mass spectrometry business to Danaher in a deal worth $450M in cash, the firm announced this morning. The sale had originally been announced in September. The deal also included the acquisition by Danaher of Life Technologies' joint venture partner in the business, MDS Analytical Technologies.
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SpeedTax Names Marketing VPLaguna Hills-based SpeedTax, a developer of software-as-a-service for sales tax management, announced this morning that it has named David Lahey as the firm's Executive Vice President, Sales and marketing. Lahey was most recently at Sage, where he was a VP of Sales for a number of the firm's product lines. SpeedTax said the move comes as a result of new private equity funding from Committed Capital earlier this month.
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Citysearch Unveils Local Ad NetworkWest Hollywood-based Citysearch, the online business guide owned by IAC, said late Friday that it has created a new advertising network called CityGrid. According to Citysearch, the new content and advertising network aggregates advertisers from a number of partners, enhances that content, and distributes that through partner web sites. CitySearch said it has quietly been working on the network for the last 24 months, with partners such as Bing and MerchantCircle, and that the ad network had mor (More info...)
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Solekai Systems Names Marco Thompson As CTOSan Diego-based Solekai Systems, a software development firm focused on the smart grid industry, said today that it has named Marco Thompson as its Chief Technology Officer. Thompson was most recently CTO at Wind River Services, is Vice Chairman of CONNECT, and is Managing Partner at venture firm Express Ventures. Thompson founded Doctor Design in 1984, an embedded engineering firm which was eventually acquired by Integrated Systems, which was merged with Wind River, itself acquired by Intel in (More info...)
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